Offense
In a New York minute, the Rampage went from being the hottest, highest-scoring team in the Arena Football League to a club that needs to get back to basics. The Rampage got shut out in the first half. It was 35-0 at the intermission and 49-0 before they finally got on the scoreboard with a James MacPherson to Jermaine Lewis touchdown pass at the 8:29 mark of the third quarter. So much for Grand Rapids setting the league afire with 92 and 84 points, respectively, in wins against Kansas City and Los Angeles. The AFL's greatest show on turf got extinguished by the Dragons.

Speaking of MacPherson, he suffered through a miserable performance. He threw interceptions in each of the Rampage's first two offensive series and coughed up a fumble on the third series. He finished 16-of-31 passing for 235 yards and three touchdowns, but he got picked off four times and sacked twice. His counterpart, New York veteran quarterback Aaron Garcia, finished 26-of-42 passing for 311 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions.

The lone bright spot on offense for the Rampage was wide receiver Kenny Higgins, who had nine catches and led all receivers with 140 yards.
• Grade: D-minus

Defense
The Rampage defense spent a lot of time on the field in the first half since the offense kept turning over the football. The defense didn't help matters, though, getting picked apart by Garcia. William Haith got burned in pass coverage a couple of times, surrendering easy touchdowns. In the second half, the Rampage forced four turnovers, including Ahmad Hawkins picking off his second pass of the night and returning it 42 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Other bright spots were lineman Rahim Abdullah, who recovered a fumble, and linebacker Leif Murphy, who had a sack. Not much else to talk about.
• Grade: D-plus

Special teams
Haith had a 1-yard net recovery of a fumble on a kickoff during a 21-point run for the Rampage in the third quarter. Other than that, the Dragons did a fantastic job of limiting the damage done by Grand Rapids return specialist Chris Martin, who had three kickoff returns for touchdowns in Week 5.

Rampage placekicker Brian Gowins never set foot on the field in the first half.
• Grade: C-plus

Coaching
Rampage coach Steve Thonn stressed to his team all last week that it would face a tough test against the Dragons despite their 1-4 record entering Saturday night's contest. Apparently, the message didn't get through. The offense got off to such a bad start there was no catching up.

The first half ended with the Rampage getting stopped cold on four consecutive running plays on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Perhaps a pass attempt might've gotten the job done. On the previous possession, the Rampage passed twice on first-and-goal from the 8, moving the football to the 2-yard line. Instead of a run, a third straight pass attempt got picked off. Timing and strategy issues aside, there's room for second guessing the coaching staff on both of those possession in the red zone.

If Thonn didn't have everyone's attention on the Rampage roster prior to the New York massacre, he surely should have it now.
• Grade: D